Comforting Fire
by OrigamiAngel
Summary: Konan lives in a small village, satisfied with her life. But all changes when a wounded God staggers into her small world, and she realizes she has fallen for the merciless killer. A story of life, love, hate, and death.


Comforting Fire

Hello, readers! It's me, OrigamiAngel, again! And also again, I have another Pein x Konan story!(: This is a Christmas story, the one that everyone thought was a ONESHOT, but it isn't…so yeah. I've thought this over tons of times, and decided to finally type it out(: Please review :D

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto. (I wish I did, though.)

A story of life, love, hate, and death.

CHAPTER ONE:

WOUNDED GOD

**One tail. Two wings. One head. A beautiful crane.**

**Konan smiles to herself, holding up her ornate paper crane to make sure it's perfect. After a two minute inspection, she sets it on the pile of origami cranes next to her. One thousand perfect cranes. **

"**Tsunade-sensei! I'm done with the paper cranes." She calls, and a moment later, her young sensei comes rushing into the room. Her bright chocolate eyes widen before turning to her student with a proud smile painted across her face. **

"**They're beautiful, Konan! Now that you're done with this, would you mind checking the medicine in the stock cabinet? I want to make sure that we're not out of anything." She gathers the cranes into a large basket. The woman places them in gently, as not to tear the delicate paper. "I'll be outside if you need me. This Christmas, we'll have the best looking home in the village!" **

**When her enthusiastic sensei has left the room, hauling a heavy basket of paper behind her, Konan stands up and stretches, smoothing out her wrinkled cloak. She walks to the kitchen table, and takes a deep breath, closing her eyes. The blue-haired student feels around her surroundings, drifting off into her inner mind. Suddenly, her eyes fly open in alarm. Something isn't right. **

**It's too quiet.**

She looks out the kitchen window. The streets are empty. Not a sound can be heard. Alerted, she runs to the front of the house, thrusting the door open. Her sensei is outside, looking around, the basket of paper cranes by her ankle, long forgotten.

"Sensei, it's…"

"Too quiet." The blonde finishes, nodding. A movement causes both of them to turn their heads, eyes squinting to make out what it is. The figure moves closer, it seems to be a villager. A man.

"Tsunade-sama! They've caught the Akatsuki leader! They've caught him!" He pants, "The village officials are holding a torture session in the village square. They're forcing out secrets about the Akatsuki from him."

Akatsuki. The name is all too familiar on everyone's mind. The Akatsuki is the most feared group in the world. Known for their merciless killing, high bounties were placed for their heads, but no one has ever tried to assassinate them, in fear of their own deaths. And here he was, the strongest shinobi in the world, right in the heart of her village. Of all the members, they find the _leader_. The fiercest one of all. The one that can destroy an entire village in only a matter of seconds.

Konan begins to run, ignoring the calls ordering her to come back. She can't comprehend the feeling in her chest. Tightness. Suffocation. All she knows, is that she _has_ to see him. To see what he looks like. More likely, she is trying to find the reason her village is not destroyed yet. The reason she is not dead.

As she gets closer, there are more people, forming a thick crowd of villagers. She pushes through, shoving everyone aside, until she reaches the front. She takes a breath. So close. There are no Anbu Black Ops holding the villagers back; everyone is keeping their distance from the feared Akatsuki leader. Everyone, except the torturer, and the village's leader. The leader asks a question in a gruff voice, "What is the Akatsuki planning to do?"

Then her eyes land on the victim. His wrists are bound to a metal post behind him, making him face the torturer. He is standing, despite his condition. The Akatsuki cloak, tossed on the floor along with his mesh undershirt, leaving his chest bare. His skin is cut and bloody, his hair dirty and ruffled. His face is clean, except for a long gash in his cheek. His forehead protector was the only thing that was still flawless, gleaming in the sun. Konan wished he would just open his eyes, so she could see what they were like, what color they were, but he keeps them squeezed shut. He doesn't answer.

The whip in the torturer's hand comes down, hitting him across the chest. Blood splatters. Some land on her cheek. He winces, but doesn't yell.

"Answer me!" The village leader commands.

He only shakes his head.

"Switch weapons." The leader says quietly to the torturer, "Use the kunai. This time, we'll be doing slow pain. Slice is through slowly." The man nods, before quickly throwing the whip aside and pulling out a sharp kunai. He pushes the tip into the left side of Akatsuki leader's stomach, and proceeds to slowly slide it across to the right. Achingly slow. The leader gasps and tries to step away, but his wrists are bound to the post. Sweat drips off the ends of his dirty orange hair. Konan grabs her own stomach, as if she's feeling the pain along with him. The torturer finally pulls the weapon out of the victim's stomach. But something is amiss. He doesn't fight back. The man is about to plunge it back in, when she throws herself between the two, holding her arms up protectively.

"Stop!" She screams. "Please…stop." But it's a little too late; the tip of the kunai slices across her left cheek. Warm blood trickles out from the cut, and mingles with the Akatsuki leader's blood. She closes one eye in pain, but doesn't move.

"Move out of the way, girl." The village leader commands.

"I refuse."

"You will only get hurt."

"I don't care. It's only seven days before Christmas. And that's the most important holiday in this small village. Please…give him mercy." She begs. Soft murmurs echo throughout the crowd, before everyone begins nodding in agreement.

The village leader looks defeated, "Fine, but since you are a student of the Great Healer, Tsunade-sama, you will be the one housing this criminal. I will provide you with chains and a lock. He is to be locked up at night, and during the day, we will keep him under tight surveillance. You must always be by his side during the day, or we will kill him."

As if by the sound of her name, the blonde walks up to her student, a furious look on her pretty face, having heard everything. "Konan, you are such a trouble-maker! If you hadn't done anything, we wouldn't be housing such a dangerous shinobi in our home!" She sighs, realizing what a scene they have just made, "I'll take the chains and lock, you can hurry up and take him home. Clean his wounds first, I don't want an infection spreading around. It'll ruin the holiday spirit. Go along now."

The blue-haired student nods before turning to the bloody leader, cautiously. His head is down, his eyes shut tightly, but when he hears footsteps coming his way, he brings his head up, and opens his eyes. Konan hesitates for a moment. His eyes are stunning. They are a pale lavender, with eccentric circles surrounding the ebony pupil. His murderous-looking face is covered in jet-black piercings. There are six in each ear, a bar through each one, three through the bridge of his delicate nose, and two spiky ones in his bottom lip. More piercings pierce his arms, collarbone, and along his ribcage. He is beautiful, but dangerous.

He stares at her, but through their ferocity, she finds exhaustion and gratefulness. It calms her down to know that he is somewhat human, too. She walks up behind him, and observes the rope tying his wrists together. They are painfully digging into his flesh. The knot, however, is simple to untie, and she does so quickly, being careful as not to hurt him any more. The rope, bloodied so it's crimson, hits the ground silently when she undoes the knot. His hands fall limply to his side, but he doesn't move. Konan fetches his mesh undershirt and his Akatsuki cloak, which are still clean, since they were removed before the torture began. She drapes the cloak on his shoulders, seeing that the mesh undershirt would scratch the wounds if he slipped it on.

"Follow me," she says. People watch them as they take their leave.

As they walk, the bright afternoon sun shining, but providing them no warmth at all in the winter season, Konan tries to define the word _follow_ as she glances sideways at the Akatsuki leader. Following someone is to be behind the person, but instead, he is walking by her side, almost taking the lead. He seems to be fully aware of it. She stops at a door, and pushes it open, remembering how she hadn't locked it before leaving. He walks in before she has so much even closed the entrance. Sighing, she takes him into an empty room. It is the only room in the entire house that was left undecorated. She tells him to stay there while she goes to the kitchen to grab a few tools.

In the kitchen, she quickly pulls out a mattress, gauze, towels, and medicine. She was worried about leaving him alone; the village leader had ordered her to keep him under surveillance at all times. She rushes back to the room, a bit surprised to find him standing where she left him. Konan lays the thin mattress out, instructing him to lay down. He does so, after removing the Akatsuki cloak. She pours some disinfectant onto a towel, slowly, to let it soak up. He winces as she wipes at the largest wound. She is trying her best to be gentle, but the sting of the disinfectant is still painful.

When Konan is done with cleaning his wounds, including the ones on his wrist, she adds healing ointment to them. Then, she sits him up for the last process, gauze wrapping. She wraps it around his stomach, making sure the gauze isn't too tight or too loose. When she is finished wrapping gauze around his stomach, he holds out his hands to have his wrists wrapped as well. The blue-haired woman pulls out a reasonable length of gauze, and wraps them around each of his wrists. Finished with that as well, she takes the pile of blood-soaked towels and medicine out to the large sink in the kitchen. She'll wash the towels later. The fresh scent of food wavers in the air, and Konan turns her head to see her sensei setting up the table. There is a tube of glowing pink liquid in her pocket.

"Sensei, what's that in your pocket?" She points to the tube while pulling out a new towel and wetting it with water from the sink.

Tsunade answers in a quiet voice, "The village leader ordered me to put this in Pein's food, but I don't know what will happen. I'll add it to his dinner to-"

"Don't."

The blonde woman looks at her student, "Pardon me?"

"Don't, Tsunade-sensei. Don't put it in his food. You don't even know what's going to happen. What if it kills him?" Her voice is lowered to a whisper.

"Serves him right. He's killed too many people already. It'll be better-"

"It's not fair. Can't you see? The village thinks they are giving him mercy, but they're wrong. The Akatsuki leader is giving _us_ mercy. We could have been killed." Konan can't stop the flow of words coming from her mouth. She doesn't understand why she is defending the most dangerous man in the world.

"Konan! What has gotten into you? Ever since he's come to this village, you haven't been you. He's a killer! I'm going to put the drug in his food tonight, whether you like it or not."

The blonde's student is on the verge of tears, but she agrees to what her sensei had said. The Akatsuki leader is a dangerous killer, someone who murdered the innocent for his own satisfaction. But somehow, her heart tells her it's all wrong. She turns and runs out of the kitchen, letting her legs take her wherever they please.

She ends up in the room. Where _he_ is.

He is still sitting there. When he hears her coming, he looks up. Konan can feel tears flowing down her cheeks, stinging the cut she had received earlier. What was happening? Why can't she just let this man, a merciless murderer, die? In silence, she walks behind him and kneels down. She runs the wet towel through his dirty hair, turning the white rag a muddy brown. He sits still, silently listening to her soft cries. His hand clenches into a fist, but she doesn't see, just keeps wiping at his hair. When his hair is finally clean, she finds herself staring at his head. His hair is bright orange. How peculiar. She shakes her head, knocking herself out of her sudden daze. Dropping the towel, she crawls over to his side and sits with her legs beneath her. He is watching her, closely. Together, they share the silence.

"Konan! Dinner is ready!" Her sensei calls out. The blue-haired woman stands up abruptly, and walks to the kitchen. Tsunade is holding two bowls of ramen, and another one is on the table beside her. "Let's eat. When you're done, take the one on the table to the Akatsuki leader."

Konan nods solemnly. She keeps telling herself: _If his death comes, there will be one less murderer in this world_.When she is finished with her bowl of ramen, she takes the one on the table to the room. There is an unmistakable tinge of pink in it. She enters the room, finding him sitting quietly on the mattress. He watches her as she sits down, a look of sadness in her eyes. She holds out a portion of ramen with wooden chopsticks, waiting for him to take it. He leans forward, his eyes still on her as he opens his mouth and closes around the chopsticks, feeling her pull them out, leaving the thin ramen noodles in his mouth. He chews and swallows. She repeats the process, her cheeks turning a faint pink when she sees him close his mouth around the chopsticks, his eyes still glued to her, and take in the food, chewing and swallowing.

When the food is finished, she takes the bowl away, not letting him drink the soup. Most of the poison would probably be in the soup, since the pink poison itself was a liquid, so she wouldn't let him drink any. She dumps the bowl in the small sink, knowing her sensei would clean it later. Konan makes her way back to the room, stopping along the way to grab a blanket. When she walks in, he is there, watching her. She gently pushes his shoulder, motioning for him to lie down, and he does so, without a word. He is still staring at her, eyes unmoving, as she lays the blanket over his wounded body. Then she sits by his side, their eyes looking into one another's, as if understanding each other's feelings deep inside.

Slowly, he pulls his arm out from under the blanket, and reaches upward. She becomes alarmed, feeling fear for a moment. What is he going to do? Did he mean her harm? Konan tries to move, but her body disobeys. She stays where she is, her eyes locked on his lavender ones. His hand inches closer, and closer, to her face. His fingers gently graze her cheek and pull away, as if asking her for permission to go on. She doesn't move, doesn't _want_ to move. Wants to stay here, with him. Seeing this, he reached forward, lightly running his fingers over her cheek, down the delicate bridge of her nose, and over her perfect lips, memorizing her. He tucks a stray strand of blue hair behind her ear, his movements gentle and soft, his eyes never leaving her. His hand lingers on her cheek before she pulls away. Slowly, because she does not want to leave, but tears are forming in her eyes. She leaves silently, biting her lip as she locks the door, and keeps the key in her pocket.

Konan makes her way to the large sink by the kitchen, finding the bloody towels she had left earlier. She rolls up the sleeves of her cloak and turns on the faucet, feeling the cool water run over her hands. She takes the bloody rags and scrubs at them until the crimson color is gone, lost down the drain. When Konan is finished, she hangs the rags on the clothing line, letting them dry out. She walks to the bathroom, and turns on the hot water.

She bathes, scrubbing down her body. The water falling from her body is almost as dirty as the towel she had used to wash the Akatsuki leader's hair. She thinks, wonders what has made her be so kind to a murderer. Is it because he doesn't even seem like a killer? Is it his eyes? His lingering gaze? His soft, gentle touch? What is it? Konan turns off the water, wrapping a towel around her body. She walks to her room, and slips on her blue nightgown, flowered with white roses. Sighing, she climbs into bed, and looks out the window.

It is raining. She falls asleep with a hand on her cheek.

Where the killer's gentle touch still lingers.

**(A/N) I'm done with the first chapter! :D I've been on my computer for 7 hours typing this out. A lot of that time went into thinking and staring blankly at the screen xD I hoped you like it. Please review! :D**


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